hood pulled up. I’d have to say it’s possible. But it’s also not possible for me to say for sure.”
“Unless I catch him.” His eyebrows lifted, and she realized he looked happy at the challenge. “Do me a favor? Get in the tub and stay there until I come to get you. You do not leave it.”
“I…what?”
“The bathtub, Ellie.” He pulled a second gun from his backpack and handed it to her. “Take this. It’s loaded, so try not to shoot me after I catch this guy, yeah?”
“Uh…”
“And call Savannah. You have your phone?”
She nodded.
“Call it in. Get in the bathtub.”
He strode to the front door. “I wanna see you go in there.”
Ellie pulled her phone from her back pocket and hustled to the bottom of the stairs. She glanced back at him. Her hero. “Dean.” She didn’t know what to say.
He nodded. “Be safe, okay?”
“You too.”
She raced up the stairs, dialing the police department’s emergency number as she went. In her other hand she held a loaded gun.
While Dean went outside and tried to catch a bad guy.
Sixteen
Dean sprinted around the house. He reached over the gate and unlatched it, then pulled it open barely an inch.
A man in blue jeans and a heavy sweater with the hood pulled up made his way across the backyard. He was similar to the description Ellie had given him of the man she’d seen. Could be the same guy. Dean would find out either way. When he caught the man.
He holstered his gun and pulled a stun weapon he’d brought.
His footsteps were silent as he rounded the corner and moved toward the man, not about to allow him to even reach the back door—let alone get inside.
This was no career criminal. And neither did he have any formal training. The man didn’t even notice as Dean approached. Kind of like the way Ellie had been, sitting on the study floor reading, completely oblivious. But for a completely different reason, this guy never even saw Dean.
“Hey.”
The man flinched and turned. Twitchy was the word that came to mind.
Dean held the stun gun aimed at his torso. “You’re trespassing.”
The man’s gaze darted around. After a second deliberation, which Dean saw in his expression, he reached to the back of his waistband. Going for a gun?
“Hands where I can see them.”
In the distance, Dean heard police sirens. Good. Ellie had called for help, and the cops were responding fast to the family member of one of their own.
The man heard the sound as well. He continued to pull out what had to be a gun.
Dean fired before he even got the thing up.
The man’s body jerked, and he made the muffled outcry of someone reacting to a high-voltage electrical charge surging through his body. The gun fell to the ground.
Dean kicked it onto the grass. The guy flailed. His hand caught Dean’s chin.
For a second, stars sparked across his vision. Dean grabbed the wrist, spun the guy around, and slammed him against the wall of the house.
He pocketed the stun gun and used a zip tie he’d brought with him to secure the guy, hands behind his back.
“Cartwright?”
“Clear!” Dean followed that up by calling out. “Suspect apprehended.” He wasn’t a cop, but he spoke the lingo. In the SEALs, this would be a checkpoint. The time to radio in, mission completion.
But he was no longer a SEAL, at least not on paper.
He didn’t often miss it. Except when adrenaline rolled through him like this, and he felt that rush of mission success.
“Hey.” Basuto holstered his gun and came over. “Nice job.”
Dean hauled the guy toward the sergeant, who took custody of him.
“Weapon in the grass.” Dean wasn’t going to touch it. Instead he moved to the back door and used the spare key he’d pocketed to unlock it and let himself inside so he could tell Ellie it was all clear.
His hands shook. Dean turned back to Basuto and told the big man, “I want to talk to him before you take him away.”
“Detective Wilcox is on her way. Any questions you have, she’ll do the asking.”
“Copy that.” As long as Dean got to be there, he wasn’t going to argue. He took the stairs two at a time and knocked on the bathroom door. “Ellie, it’s Dean.”
He heard a movement and muttering, then she opened the door. “You caught him?”
Dean nodded. “It’s all clear.” He took the gun from her hand and tucked it back in his holster. He needed to unload all his